It is now mid-June and my form is starting to come back around. The rest of the season is nothing but crits so I guess with my new found form I will be looking to get in some breaks and drive them. I have been getting a little more active at the front end of crits the last couple weeks as well, when it comes time to sprint. I have only had a couple of opportunities to really sprint hard this season, so it has felt good to mix it up a bit.

I didn't race this weekend, byut instead trained and spent time with the family. Last night was Eldo and even though the pace was pretty fast all night, I still had some juice to attack a few times, and get off the front. As soon as I go the group goes single file and chases me down. I guess that is the price you have to pay for being known to go in breaks and make them stick. Either way it was business as usual and we rolled around in circles until it was time to sprint. I had a good wheel with about 1k to go. Some goon from another team started coming over on me, so I had to throw the elbows out and make myself as big as possible. I have earned the rigth to be up there, and hence asserted myself for that position and got he wheel. Out of the last turn it was all systems go, and I jumped WAY to early. Not a big deal, since I had out sprinter on my wheel and he got going, but still came in just in front of me. I have a week off of Eldo next week, as I will be melting out in the desert the River. The forecast for the high in Yuma....108 on Monday. Holy S*%T. This should be interesting. My forecast is for lots of complaining and whinning from teh wife, and kid.

On a happier note, I have a business thing in NYC in July, and have turned it into a family trip. Should be lots of fun. Kyle is all pumped about going there. I think he will have a blast. It may not be ther best thing for training, but I don't care, we are going to have fun.

Some nights you are just on

Some nights you are on and some you are not. Last night was an on night. Which is a little surprising as I raced fairly hard in the heat on Sunday. I went in an early break that had a bunch of goons in it. They screwed up the paceline, they sprinted for preems, they surged through the gap when it was their turn to pull, then they blew themselves up. Way to go nimrods. We went back to the peleton and I continued to attack, but nothing would stick. The saddest part about last night was guiys who are strong attacking like they were a 12 year old girl. When you attack you have to go really HARD and be fully committed. Not these buttholes. Half assed attempts with no speed and no gaps. Way to go guys.
It stayed together and there was a nice fast lead out and followed by a clean sprint. I opened the sprint super early so our sprinter could get up to speed. It worked and he was able to get 2nd. The guy who won was flying, and there was no beating him. Even after all that I was able to hold some speed and get 8th. Not bad since I didn't really sprint and the other guys were going as hard as they could.
The best part about last night was that I had good legs. I can feel my form coming back around and I think I will back it off just a touch so I can be flying in the end of July and the start of August. Hopefully some other guys form falls off a bit and I can hit a peak and get a few wins.

It's been a few weeks since I have updated my page. Lots to talk about. First off there was a State Crit Champs in Costa Mesa. With the big local Pro teams in OK for a crit series, the race was wide open. I covered a lot of breaks early and got off the front with 3 guys for a while. Then a big move went. We could see they weren't working together very well. I decided to pick up the pace to bring them back. Some a-hole left me out in front and opened a gap to me, so I decided to bridge. I got within 50 meters or so and the break sat up. I looked back and the peleton was single file. I sat up to figuring the break was coming back. They didn't and I had to chase flat out the rest of the time. Morale of the race, never give up, and when in doubt bridge over. The 14 man break stayed away and I lost the race.

Then it was time for a good old Eldo. The race stayed together and I tried to string it out at the end for our sprinter and apparently not everyone at the front can hold 36mph. I gapped two guys in the front and the train fell apart. All good though our sprinter had a good wheel, but the guys lined up behind him had a better wheel and he got smoked in the end.

Then Bakerfield came. I was/am not in form to do 80 miles (8 laps on a 10 mile course) with two climbs in it. So i opted to do my age category instead of the pro race. I lined up for the 30+ race and there were 11 other guys. ELEVEN!!! That's pathetic. Of the 11 there were 2 cat.3's and one cat.4. The rest of us were all cat.2's. We attacked like crazy on lap 2 of 5 and a 5 man group including me got away. We drilled it to the last lap and had a silly huge lead. We hit the final climb (3/4 of a mile at 6%) and a flurry of attacks started. I followed wheels and felt good. We hit the hairpin at the top and had ~500m to the line slightly uphill the whole way. We all played the watching game. There were 2 guys I was watching and 2 I knew were toast. At ~250m I was the first to jump and got a BIG gap immediately. I put my head down and slammed it. One of the guys I was worried about started to chase, and the other guys I was worried about was on his wheel. So as I went from 14mph to 34mph and had to hold it, one guy pulled the other guy up to 30mph and then died, and the guy on his wheel jumped and started to sprint after me. With about 30m to go he was coming fast and I was running out of steam. He had just enough in him to get to the line just in front of me. I took 2nd and missed getting a State RR Championships. That sucked. It made for a long drive home knowing I got beat by such a small margin. I am pissed and I want a win, NOW!!!! It's on the rest of the season. I am going to attack like mad and make everyone's life hell. No more Mr. Nice Bike. The gloves are off.

Pain, Pain and more Pain

WOW, this weekend sucked. There was races Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I decided to skip the race Saturday and hang with the family. Wise choice. It was silly fast and only 33 guys finished.

As soon as I got to the start line Sunday I knew it was going to be a bad day. There was 43 of us and there was a good hand full of pros there. So the attacks started early. I got in a break with Tommy and Kirk and we lapped the field. Then all hell broke loose, with counter attacks. By the end of the day Tommy got 3rd in the sprint, i got 4th and Kirk got 6th. We ended up 5th, 6th, and 8th, since 3 guys had lapped the field a 2nd time. Holy Poop.

Monday was back to normal. 100+ guys and all the big teams were there. Again the break went early and I was the only schmuck from my team that made the break. We lapped the field. It was a huge break of about 20 guys. The counters started almost immediately. It stayed together until the end, and I ended up 13th. Pathetic.

I did put together a couple of really good rides after my week off the bike, so I can't complain that much, but I do wish I could have beat some of those guys yesterday, and gone top 5. This weekend is another big crit, so we will need to be firing on all cyclinders.

Things are getting ugly in Italy and Germany. The German's launched an investigation into the Telekom (now T-Mobile) Team, and found out there was systematic doping of the racers during the early day (circa '94-99). Zabel, Aldag, and a few others came clean saying they did it, and then the big BOMB went off. Bjarne Riis came forward and said he doped during his 1996 TdF win. HOLY UNDERPANTS. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that Bjarne says he now has the most comprehensive drug testing program in the sport, doing more out of competition testing than anyone else, and all paid for my the his team. He says his racers are the cleanest in the sport. So the questions that need to be asked are:

1. Is Bjarne full of crap and lying? With his background does he know how to get around the tests and still dope?

or

2. Does he know what to look for and can spot the dopers and really is trying to clean up the sport? I think this is highly unlikely, as he says he was surprised that Ivan was going to dope for the TdF. Ivan's performance at the Giro was unbelievable, and there is no way he rode like that (very Pantanni like) without doping there. And you can bet Bjarne knew he was doping.

What will the outcome of this year Giro mean for July? And who will win the Mellow Johnny?

As for me, I get to race Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Should be a fun couple of days. I am hoping to get in a break on Sunday and get a result. I only have one good ride in my legs right now so I will have to race smart if I want a result.

A week off

Mid season is here, and that means one thing, time for a rest. Every season at this time, I have a work thing I have to go to in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It's fantastic. A week of surf and sun (with a little work), and a bunch of cute women. The surf was good this year, so I got in the water a lot. The best part is my form was starting to drop off, so this was/is the perfect time to take a week off and recover. I got on the stationary at the hotel a few times, but nothing remotely hard. Just spun the legs out.
The second half of the season has started, and I will try and build up for another peak around mid-July. I would like to be flying again in August, and hopefully get a win this season. That is my personal goal this year. Get a WIN.

On a sadder note, Floyd Landis' trial has finally gotten under way. I for one do not think he doped. There are very few guys I would say that about. But I think Floyd did it the right way. Not to mention there is very little real evidence to support the charges of testosterone use. The worst part of the trial is, Greg LeMond decided to stick his big fat obnoxious nose into things. He has no business being the vioce of concern for USA cycling and cyclists. Shut up you big fat old man. He called Floyd to tell him to come clean. He had no knowledge of what the circumstances were, but told Floyd he should admit to something he didn't do. Well that pissed of a friend of mine who happens to be Floyd's business manager (Will). Will decided to make a call to LeMond the night before he was to testify and make some comments over the phone. That cost Will his job. A stupid thing on Will's part no doubt about it, but it should never have been a possibility. LeMond should make his bikes and let the USADA do their own thing. Just because you won the Tour doesn't give you the right to talk shit about everyone else. If he wants to clean up cycling, go to work for the USADA or USA Cycling, or WADA or the UCI, but until you do, SHUT UP. Ass.

That's all for now. Time to start hammering again, and see if we can get some big results this season.

Stupid Bike Racer

I am a stupid bike racer. I suck.

Tuesday night El Dorado Park Crit Series, and the heat was on last night. The temps during the day almost hit 100. I like racing in the heat, so last night I was feeling pretty good. I got in a nice long warm up and the legs felt pretty good, suprisingly. So it was time to ride hard. Pops and Drama needed the field strung out as we got into the closing 700 meters for preem one, so I went to the front and strung it out. I went a little too hard and opened up big gaps to my wheel with guys who couldn't hold 34mph for that long of a time. Pops got 2nd on the preem, and was looking strong. Since I had good legs I started launching attacks. Nothing was able to stick, unitl the very last laps. With 2 to go one guy popped off the front and had 10 seconds. Me and Gritters took off too. The 3 of us did 1/2 a lap then 4 guys bridged and the infighting began. One guy attacked really hard and looked strong. Brandon and I tried to get to him, but Brandon gapped me, and it all fell apart. Our sprinters did their job and got 3rd and 5th. We took over the points overall as well. So from now on we will be watching out for Pops and making sure he stays on the top.
I was a little bummed I didn't have enough gas to make it to the end with the small gap we had, but I have to remember I am not on peak form right now.
All in all the team rode pretty strong last night. It is good to see everyone talking and riding strong. I am surprised my form is as good as it is right now. I should be complete poo poo, so hopefully when I hit my second peak of the season I will be flying.
It's time for a team meeting as well, so everyone knows what everyone else is up to, and to remind everyone of their rolls and their teammates rolls. Sometimes we loose track of that throughout the season, and it's good to have a meeting to refresh everyone.

I am off to Mexico for a week for a vacation. I need it. When I get back it will be full gas until the end of August. By mid-July I should be back on good form and getting results. I hope to get at least 1 win this season. That is my personal goal.

The heat is ON

Spring has come and gone in Southern California. It lasted about 5 hours. Hopefully some of you go to enjoy it. We are now into summer here. The heat was on this weekend for the races. Yes, races. More than one. The first (on Cinco de Mayo) was in San Diego in a really bad nieghborhood. The race is called Barrio Logan Grand Prix, and it is the State Crit Champs. The course is really tight, with lots of turns (8) and it is only .8 miles. I will give you a minute to crunch those numbers......done? Good, moving on then. On top of the technical course the road surface is not very good. Thankfully, most of the bad pavement is confined to the corners, so that's nice. Our sprinter had good form, but crashed on Thursday and pulled out of the very fast race. I was not aware he had called it quits. I went to the front to chase the very dangerous break, and helped to get them within 10 seconds, a very closable gap. As we had them in site I moved back to find our sprinter and bring him to the front (remember I didn't know he wasn't there). By now we had about 7 laps to go, and the pack had been cut in half by the fast pace. The break still dangled. I hit one of the bad corners and had a catastrophic equipment failure. The cleat sheered off the bottom of my shoe. No way to clip in, no way to keep racing. Without any help chasing the break's gap opened back up and they ended up holding it and taking the win. No worries I thought tomorrow is a 81 mile road race, on a course that is supposed to suit me according to my teammates.

Sunday, woke up to 20 mph winds and 80 degree temps, it warmed to 90 for the race. Attacks started really early and the climbs were longer and tougher than I had been told. The break went up the road and was gaining time, so me and another moron tried to bridge. Two laps of hammering up the hills and into the wind, only to be caught by the pack, which was chasing flat out, just as we caught the break. That was one of the dumbest things I have done on a bike in a long time. I know better than to try that type of thing. I should have just sat in. My effort cost me and I pulled out at the feedzone half way through lap 5 of 7. My legs gave out on me, and my legs decided I would not be finishing. Apparently I was not the only one in this position. The start list was about 65-70 guys. The race ended with less than 35. That will tell you how tough and fast that race was.

It is now mid season, and I can tell me early season peak has gone and I am now in my mid-season low form. The legs had some snap, but not nearly enough this weekend. This was to be expected, and after a break next week (vacation in Mexico) I will come back, do some training and be ready for the 2nd half of the season, and my second peak around July.

The Stupidity Continues

Tuesday nights is Eldo night. One hour of crit racing. Good times, right? Usually. Because we only have a certain amount of space and time there are 3 different races on course at the same time, like I have mentioned before. Because of this Velosport always has good numbers in the 1/2/3 race. This week was no different. The cat.3 kids have been trying really hard to get a result out there with no luck. They finally snapped Tuesday. As the bell rang for preem one, a small group had a gap on us and was rolling. Kirk was in there, and would have taken the preem. No doubt about it. Before he could get a chance two of our cat.3 guys went to the front and damn near blew themselves up to bring them back. They were both spent and had no chance of getting the preem regardless. All they did was chase a teammate down (a HUGE No No). Now we had to set it up for one of our sprinters. He jumped with the current and always point leader toward the line. The points leader tends to drift over on you if he feels you may get around him. He did that to our guy, and paid the price. As he drifted over and started bumping with our sprinter he lost control and went down.....hard. Broken clavical and concusion. He's out for half the season. All of this in 3/4 of a lap of racing. Stuff happens fast out there.

The 3's never did get their poop together that night. One of them managed to sneak in for 10th place, but that gets him nothing but 1 point. After the race I was none too happy, and told them never to chase a teammate again. They didn't want to hear that. They got pissed and I figured, let them cool down. I will do the same, and everything will be good tomorrow.

Wednesday, I send and email to the racers saying, please remember to check before you chase to make sure you are not chasing a teammate. That started a flurry of emails, and shit talking the likes of which i have never seen. I tried to keep things quiet and respond to each person privately, but they decided to respond back and cc all kinds of other people. They left me no choice. They want to race, then they will get to. Now the elite team and the club guys will race AGAINST each other out at Eldo. Due to categories we never race against them or with them i should say at any other race. So Tuesday nights is a little strange for them. The 3's have no chance of catching us if we decide to go in a break. They can chase all they want, but they aren't going to catch us. They also don't have the sprint speed and the knowledge to get position to contest the sprints. It will be a good leraning experince for them. They are good racers, and I hope this will force them to become better racers. I know they are frustrated and want to go hard, and if we have someone up the road (we almost always do) they can't ride hard. It finally got to them Tuesday. No hard feelings though. They are just going to have to step it up now.

This weekend is State Crit Champs. One of your sprinters has good form right now, so I will be watching out for him Saturday. Sunday is a 81 mile road race. Not very long, but it will be touhg. The nice thing is they are scoring the 2's seperate from the pro's so as long as I am the first 2 across the line I get to claim it as a win. Sweet. That's 10 points I really need. If I can get out of this weekend, and hit mid-season with 15-16 points I will be looking good for the cat.1 upgrade at the end of the season.

Until Monday.......

Crashing and Dumb Bike racing

There are days when I get this wierd feeling, like something bad is going to happen on the bike. Last night I had that feeling. There was a pretty large field at the race, and lots of guys chomping at the bit to get a result. The race started pretty slow, then some guys attacked and one of ours was in there. As they rang the bell for Preem one, two of our guys from the back came up flying and started chasing flat out. They brought back the break, and our guy, and now it was time for a group sprint for preem one. One of our guys got on the right wheel and was moving. As the sprint opened up the guy in the lead tried drifting over and cutting off our sprinter. That was a mistake. As soon and they touched, the other guy went down...HARD. It was a single person crash, and it was not pretty. Crashing at 40 mph never is. A broken shoulder and slight concusion is what he gets for his mistake. The bad news was, that guy was the strongest out there, and with out him there was a very slim chance of a break getting away. That didn't stop me though. I attacked a lot and should have been smarter. No breaks stayed away and I burned too many matches, so I had nothing left to do lead out. Way to go dumbass. More stupid bike racing. It all worked out as one of our guys won, and another took 5th. All in all a pretty good night, even if there were way too many stupid bike racers out there.

The good news is this weekend is Barrio Loagan GP. Eight corners in 1.1 miles. I am sure it will be perfectly safe, but just to make sure, I will stay away. No need to get bent just before a trip to Cabo. That's right ladies and gents, I am off to Cabo in less than 2 weeks. While all you poor bastards are stuck at work I am going to be catching waves in sunny, warm Cabo.

BASSO OUT!!!!

So Basso decided to leave Disco. Hmmmmm, interesting. His Italian case with Operation Puerto is due to be reopened on Wednesday. He had to give his DNA, and with the court date a few days away, he decides to leave his team (who is looking for a new sponsor).
Did any of you know I am a psychic? I can see the future, and will now apply my abilites to Ivan Basso. Wednesday, May 2, Italy, Ivan walks into a court room, and CONI (Italian equilvent of USADA) tells him, we have a match, and suspenes him for 2 years from competition and another 2 years from signing with a Pro Tour Team.
At least he was smart enough to get out of his contract with Disco pre-suspension, instead of dragging down his team with him. There is no other reason to resign other than he knows he is guilty. I am sure Ivan and Jan were clients of Dr. Fuentes.
From what I have read and heard about r-EPO it has a dramatic effect on a racer. The racer dosen't have bad days. How do I know Floyd didn't take r-EPO? He had a really bad day. How do we know Jens Voigt isn't taking r-EPO, he has bad days. Ivan Basso and Jan didn't take it for years. You can see it. They had bad days. Remember Ivan at L'Alpe Duez TT? He got crushed by Lance (Lance has had bad days too). Then look at Ivan at last years Giro. Did he have a bad day? Never. Did he crush everyone and ride people off his wheels in the mountains? Yep. just like Marco Pantani, and everyone now knows Marco was r-EPO'ed to the eyeballs. Marco's hemocrti levels exceeded 60% at some points.

Ivan Basso is guilty and by Thursday everyone will know that.

OUCH

Every Tuesday night (6pm) there is a mid-week crit in Long Beach. The El Dorado (Eldo) Park crit had been going on for something like 20 years. There are 3 categories that race. First the masters 35+, then the 4/5 group, then the pro1/2/&3's. The course is a big square about 1.7 miles long. The 3 groups are all on course at the same time. The pro race usally catches the masters and the 4/5 group at least once, and sometimes twice.

So last night I was all kinds of pissed about the weekend disaster and decided there would be a break-a-way, and I was going to be in it. So after 12-15 minutes of the 60 minute race, I launched really hard. The course is pretty much dead flat, but there is a small rise on the back side. I drilled it before the rise, and once at the rise, i was out of the saddle and crushing it up the rise. I looked back and the devestation was apparent. The group did not like that pace, and there were guys at the front no happy. Gaps opened to wheels and just like that me, Tommy, and a few other guys had a lead. After about 1/2 a lap Jamie Palonetti came up and went flying past us. We all got on his wheel. He had dragged a couple guys with him too, so there was 7 of us. Tommy rode well and was able to maintain a good pace, I was able to increase and hold when I pulled, and Palonetti tried to kill us all. The rest of the group sucked. If I came off the front at 29 they went into the wind and dropped to 27. You can't survive like that. So it was Jamie, Tommy, and I who did all the work.

With 3 laps to go the peleton was getting closer, and 3 guys managed to bridge across. They were able to do some pulls and we held the gap to the finish. With a little less than half a lap to go I jumped really hard trying to get away. It caused us to loose 3 guys, but the big boys were still there. The hard jump cost me, and in the end I could not muster a big sprint and got 5th. Tommy got up there for 3rd, and could have won, had we not caught the masters for the 2nd time that night at the finish line. We had to sprint through their group which sucked and was little dangerous, but not a big deal.

The best part was the team rode really well and the boys in the bunch did a lot of work to make sure we stayed away. It was a good night after what was a terrible weekend.

Opperation Puerto

Ivan Basso is not racing this weekend, and may miss the Giro and the Tour due to being implicated in Opperation Puerto. His entire season is in jeapordy, yet he won't give his DNA to clear his name. Tyler Farrar was implicated in this mess, immediately gave his DNA and was cleared. As were a number of other racers. Every day Basso refuses to give DNA is another day his innocence is diminished. All you need to do is look at Jan Ulrich and you will see what Ivan has to look forward to. Jan stated from the beginning that he did not know Dr. Fuentes, yet when the German governmnet got some of Jan's DNA it matched up with 2 bags of blood, one that said No.1 and another that said Rudy's Son (Rudy is Jan's longtime coach). They suspect Ivan has two bags of blood also. One that says his dogs name, and one that says No.2. Not very clever codes if you ask me. I guess Dr. Fuentes was better at doping athletes than he was at coming up with clever ways to conceal his clients identity. He must have thought the UCI, WADA, and other cycling officials were as stupid as the racers he doped. He must have been stunned when they were able to crack his "codes". How did we ever figure out Rudy's Son was Jan Ulrich. How did we ever figure out Brillo (the name of Basso's dog) was Ivan Basso. It must have taken some computer program months to decypher those codes. Dumb ass.

The bright side of this is, now it looks like Levi will be leading Disco at the Tour this year. How sweet will it be if Levi can smoke those Eurodogs and wear the Mellow Johnny in Paris? The French will collectively crap themselves, all at once.

If Ivan is truely innocent, then give them your DNA and be cleared, other wise GUILTY until proven innocent.

That was NOT GOOD

This weekend was the Conquer the Canyons Stage Race. The race is a two day, three stage event. First was the time trial on Saturday morning. Four miles of rolling-uphill terrain. Last year the times were pretty fast, this year was down right silly. I did a 12:53 which would have put me in the top 15 last year. This year.....34th place. Yikes.

Now it was time for stage two, which was a 2.25 miles circuit race. Pretty much dead flat, with 3 corners and a couple of big sweeping turns. A good course, but a little tight. No crashes so that was nice. I got a couple of preems, then cooled my jets thinking about the really hard road race the next day. I had good position on the lats lap, until some goon boxed me in and my day was done.

Sunday morning. Skies are cloudy, the wind is up, and it's 60 degrees. Perfect day for a beating. We tore ass out of the start finish area, and soon we were on the one mile long climb (about 7% all the way up). No real attacks this lap, although we did ride up it at 15-16 mph. Fast enough to get rid of a lot of guys 4 miles into the 60 mile race. Lap two, and we are at the climb again way too soon for my legs. This time, the attacks started. I made it over the top just off the back, and then had to chase with a handful of guys to try and get back on. Nothing doing. While we were chasing flat out so was the peleton. A break of 3 guys had 20 seconds so we never caught on. Soon Chance (teammate) popped too, so we had another guy to ride laps with. I made it over the climb on lap 6 of 8 but that was it for me. My legs gave out and I called it a day. The good news was it only rained for 3 of my 6 laps. What a crappy race. Not only was it pyshically taxing, but it was really unorganized. First off the start times for the TT weren't available until the morning of the event. Then they missed my second preem, which wasn't even close. I was a bike length ahead of the guy, and then for the road race they told us NO PARKING at the start/finish. We were to park in one of two dirt lots (great when it raining) then ride 4 miles to the start/finish for the the race. Then at the last minute, they changed the rule and allowed us to park at the s/f, but didn't announce it to anyone. What a joke. The last thing you want to do after a 60 mile death march, is ride your bike through hills back to your car, which is now in a mud pit, 4 miles away.

So to the fine folks at MESP Productions, thanks for the sore legs, and the crappy finish line food, and don't count on getting my money next year. As my good friend President George W. Bush said," Fool my once, shame on me.....fool me twice, uh , uh ??????, see ya can't get fooled again." Thanks G-Dub you can always make me laugh.

What the hell? That last post made no sense at all. I need to start practicing responsible typing. No more talking on the phone while posting.
I promise to be better next time.

It's not lookig good

This weekend is the Conquer the Canyons Stage Race. It's 3 races in 2 days. Think Criterium International. TT, then circuit race on Saturday, then a tough road race on Sunday. The good news is it's supposed to rain on Sunday, but not until the afternoon. Did I forget to mention my race dosen't start until the afternoon? Yeah, so by the time I get ready to go it will be pissing down rain. Great. Nothing like going downhill in a pack at 50 mph inteh rain into a hairpini turn at the bottom. I am sure it will be fine, after all there have been so few crashes this.......wait that's not true either. This season has been nothing but so far. With any luck the rain starts to come down and any one not up on GC will bail. Then, regardless of how many guys are left, i am going to attack like mad the first lap. Screw it. You never know unless you try.

The First of Many

I held out as long as I could. I have a few teammates with blogs, and I don't feel they convey to the public the true essence of bike racing. I applaud their attempts, but ultimately they fall short. So it is up to me to tell the tale of how stupid bike racers are.

Let's get you up to speed on my bike racing pedigree.

I started racing in 2005. Won a bunch of races, and soon found myself in way over me head. Luckily for me I am not smart enough to realize I don't belong in this peleton, and I am a slow learner so I keep thinking I have a chance at winning so I keep coming back for more. I am now a cat. 2 racer and the captain of a great team. I have wonderful teammates as well.

So far this season everyone has crashed but me. Let's keep it that way. The team has the following record this season:
Top 10's= 9
Crashes= 6

As for me, here is a brief update on my season so far.

Jan 28- the season starts with a fast 60 miles crit- didn’t place.
Feb 3- Long, hard Road race with the countries top pros- didn't place.
Feb 18- Crit with local talent- first top 10 of the season (10th)
Feb 25- Not a chance at top 10
March 3&4- Lots of crashing (not me) and no top 10's. (I am starting to get pissed)
March 16-18- More crashing (again not me), no top 10 for me, but a teammate scores a 2nd on the last stage. (Not as pissed now, but I officially suck)
March 25- got in the break, got caught by chase group, let 5 guys slip away, got 8th. I don't suck as much as I thought.
March 31- Guess what....more crashes. No top 10 for me.
April 1- I thought it was a joke, but I got 4th in a race. I don't suck any more.
April 14- I am in the break again. Oh s*@t, I'm dropped from the break. I am dropped from the peleton, I am alone off the back. I suck again.

That is a snapshot of my year so far. The good news is the last race really hurt my legs, so I was complete crap for 2 days. Then I thought it would be a good idea to go out to a mid-week crit. WRONG. Now my legs are crap again, and I have the hardest 2-day, 3 stage, race of the season this weekend. My chances of doing well there are slim to none, and slim is on his way out the door right now. Such is the life of a bike racer. The good news is my wife is pissed at me for racing so much, and my child has forgotten what I look like.

This is the beginning of what could turn out to be a complete implosion for me, and I welcome you to come along for the ride.